Legendary actress Ann-Margret made quite a name for herself in Hollywood through several films during the early 1960s. This includes Bye Bye Birdie, where she was nominated for Best Actress at the Golden Globe Award, and Viva Las Vegas alongside Elvis Presley, with whom she confessed having secretly dated for a year.

In 1973, Ann-Margret finally landed on one of her first lead roles, alongside wild west star John Wayne in the movie The Train Robbers – where she played a feisty, beautiful widow who hires a man to find gold stolen by her husband so that she may return it and start anew.

Working With John Wayne Was A Dream Come True For Ann-Margret

JOHN WAYNE FURIOUSLY REJECTED an offer from Steven Spielberg, branding his film “drivel.” Yet many, including the Western star’s wife Pilar, believe his actions were rooted in a need to “atone” for his own secret shame.

For decades, Wayne straddled the screen, the ultimate symbol of US frontier and even military machismo. Firmly right-wing in his personal and public views, his third wife Pilar labelled him a “superpatriot.” And when a chance came towards the end of his life to work with the new hottest director in town,  the ageing star furiously shot him down. After being offered a plum role, Wayne typically did not mince his words and told Spielberg the film 1941 was “the most anti-American piece of drivel I have ever read in my life.”

1941 is remembered as one of the director’s rare misfires, despite attaining cult status in subsequent years. Although it turned a very small profit, it paled in success next to his previous Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Released in 1979, it was soon eclipsed and forgotten after the first Raiders of the Lost Ark movie hit screens two years later.

The action-comedy humorously imagines a Japanese attack on Los Angeles days after the offensive on the US fleet at Pearl Harbour.

Wayne refused the role of General Joseph Stilwell (which went to Robert Stack) and told Spielberg: “You know, that was an important war, and you’re making fun of a war that cost thousands of lives at Pearl Harbor. Don’t joke about World War II.”

The Duke’s patriotic fervour is understandable but was also rooted in his own rather compromised past.

Will there ever be another Hollywood cowboy quite like John Wayne? These Yellowstone fans think Kevin Costner is the only to come close.

Right off the bat, this feels an odd comparison to draw for this Outsider. Sure, on the surface it works: both men are incredibly famous for their work in Westerns. Yet as individuals and their roles in Hollywood at large – they could not be more different.

But that’s just one man’s opinion! As a fellow Yellowstone fan, however, I do think it’s fair to say Costner’s John Dutton is having a considerable impact on American pop culture today – much in the same way John Wayne did in his heyday.

Perhaps this, then, is what has led to an active discussion over on Reddit’s Yellowstone board between passionate fans. There, Redditor deepinterwebz jumpstarts the conversation with: “I see Kevin Costner as America’s modern day John Wayne. He embodies America’s true cowboy spirit as Wayne did.”

Which, again, on the surface kind of works. The top comment picks up on some of the same hiccups mentioned earlier, though, as u/hitch_in_my_gitalong replies: “Leaving out their actual personalities, John Wayne generally played good guy roles. John Dutton wants something that’s honorable and good but is crooked in how he goes about it.”

True, yet both were products of their time. In this discussion, fans seem to be whisking all of Wayne’s iconic cowboy roles into one fictional cowboy of a man – which was largely The Duke’s public persona. Wayne always wanted to play good guys, sure (except, you know, that one time he played Genghis Khan in one of the worst missteps in Hollywood history), but many of his characters were just as “crooked” as Costner’s Dutton for their time. Cinema simply wasn’t as breakneck and gory in the golden age. Things were… Much different. Something like Yellowstone would be unfathomable to audiences of the mid-20th century.

‘Yellowstone’ Fans on ‘Hollywood’s Version of a Cowboy’

To this end, Redditor DemenicHand believes “it would probably be better to compare Rock “The Dwayne” Johnson’s persona to John Wayne, instead of [Costner].”

An interesting take! Honestly, Johnson certainly has a much more similar bravado to Wayne about him that Costner. Wayne was “larger than life,” as is Johnson. Costner, however, is far closer to that actual “cowboy spirit” of less showmanship – more action.

Yet Redditor johnnykoxville (not to be confused with the actual Jackass star) disagrees that either could ever be considered the “True cowboy spirit,” saying “It’s so far off in reality.”

Eh… I Disagree. From someone who has two literal cowboys for great uncles, both men remind me a lot of Kevin Costner and a little of John Wayne. So take that for what you will, Yellowstone fans.

As Redditor AnnaNonna says, “John Wayne embodied Hollywood’s version of a cowboy.”

Kevin Costner and his characters – like one John Dutton – however, feel far more true to life.